Tag: science

12th May

On 12th May 1585, Dr Thomas Vavasour died of diseas in Hull Castle after being imprisoned in damp and overcrowded conditions with the whole of his household for many years. A physician and scholar, he was a prominent Catholic, was excommunicated and arrested. He was buried in Drypool churchyard, which stood within the garrison walls of Hull.

On 12th May 1698, Hull grassman Hugh Stringer was given a contract by the town council to cart away rubbish, clean the streets, and ensure that residents kept the street clean in front of their house.

On 12th May 1855, Sir (William) Alfred Gelder, FRS, FRIBA was born in North Cave. As  an architect, was involved in clearing Hull’s Victorian slums and reconstructing the city, in partnership with City Architect Joseph Hirst. Liberal, Mayor of Hull 1899-1903, later MP for Brigg and Hull alderman. Received the freedom of the city 1930. Died 26.8.41.

On 12th May 1859, Paull fisherman Thomas Marritt drowned whilst fishing in Whitebooth Roads, in the Humber. His body was found in the river between Hessle and Hull in June.

On 12th May 1874, Grace (8) and Lucy (7) Cuthbert of Easington died when their clothing became trapped in the machinery of the family mill, where they were playing.

On 12th May 1903, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later George V & Queen Mary) unveiled a statue to Queen Victoria in Hull; their escort was the first task of the newly created East Riding of Yorkshire Imperial Yeomanry.

On 12th May 1915, an anonymous person wrote a letter addressed to George, at German Pork Shop, Waterworks Street, Hull, warning him that his shop was to be ‘broken up’ because of anti-German feelings as a result of the sinking of the Lusitania. Hohenrein’s Pork Butchers was attacked by a mob.

On 12th May 1945, retired Hull City Architect Joseph Hirst died aged 81 in Selby. Was responsible, with Mayor Alfred Gelder, for the transformation of Hull in the late 19thC, with the creation of Victoria Square, City Hall, and Alfred Gelder St. His designs include the Market Hall, Beverley Road Baths, Carnegie Library, Pickering Almshouses, Castle Hill Hospital. He was involved in planning new council estates in the 1920s. Wrote “The Blockhouses of Hull’ and ‘Armorial Bearings of KuH’. (b24.5.1863 South Milford) Hirst appears to have no memorial in Hull.

On 12th May 2013, Professor George William Gray, CBE, died aged 86. He moved to Hull in 1946 and worked as a laboratory demonstrator at Hull University. Went on to lead the research which resulted in LCD technology. Received many awards, including Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Kyoto International Gold Medallist. He is commemorated in the George Gray Room in Hull History Centre.

January 15th

On 15th January 1741, John Jenkinson of Hull was indicted at Hull Quarter Sessions for ‘laying his dirt at Beverley Gates’.

On the same day, Jeremiah Gibson was also indicted for ‘scattering dirt from the High Church (i.e. Holy Trinity) all the way to without Mytongates’.

On 15th January 1885, Thomas Escritt died aged 87 at Cranswick. Known as ‘the Bishop of Cranswick’, he was a powerful Primitive Methodist preacher. Each day for 60 years, on his walk to farm work at Burn Butts, he stopped at the same spot to pray for the people of Cranswick. It was said that no grass would grow on this spot, until the 1930s, when the airfield was built over it. photo shows view from Burn Butts

On 15th January 1993, Don Suddaby, Fellow Royal Institute of Chemistry, played himself in the film “Lorenzo’s Oil’, released on this date. Suddaby was an analytical chemist working for Croda International, Hull, who took on a challenge to find a formula for erucic acid to halt neurological damage. Suddaby died later in 1993.

 

sledmere from...

December 21st

wm constable

On 21st December 1633, the Duke of Cumberland’s staff bought supplies of oysters (600 at 6d per 100) for Christmas at Londesborough House on his behalf when he was in York on business.

On 21st December 1721, William Constable was born at Burton Constable. He inherited the Constable estate, and is chiefly remembered for restoration work on the Hall, and as an amateur scientist and collector of art and artefacts; his Cabinet of Curiosities may be the most complete in any stately home. He became grossly overweight, suffering from gout, probable hypochondria and addiction to medication containing opiates. (d 18.5.1791) see photo with his sister Winifred

On 21st December 1824, Richard Arthur Worsop of Howden Hall recorded in his diary that he supported a charity which had been continued by the owners of the Hall since the 17th Century; he gave 6d each to 40 poor people of the parish, and a bushel each of wheat and coals to a further 10. He recorded several other charitable gifts in his diary, including a sheep to the workhouse.

On 21st December 1838, Hull banker Joseph Robinson Pease established, and was elected President of, Hull Labourers’ Friendly Society, having established a society in Hessle which had built a cottage there.  There were already dozens of friendly societies in Hull by this time, and this new group may have been more of a building society than a self help group. Pease was certainly no democrat (he described democracy as a ‘pestilent curse’).

On 21st December 1857, Henry Smith Bright, manager, Hull Cotton and Flax Mills, was found guilty at York Assizes of forging deeds of transfers of shares, and sentenced to 6 months’ penal servitude. His actions appear to have precipitated the closure of the Hull Flax and Cotton Mills and the bankruptcy of the partners in the Harrison Watson & Co bank on 24.9.1857.

On 21st December 1957, Edward Benn, 43, bosun, of Hull Rd, Hedon, died as result of accident aboard Hull trawler Cape Palliser off Iceland.

October 1st

On 1st October 1646, Sir Henry Griffith of Burton Agnes was fined £7,547 as a Colonel in the Royalist army (a delinquent) in order to recover his goods which had been sequestered by Parliament. His fine was reduced in 1650 to £5,122.

On 1st October 1782, William Spence was born in Bishop Burton. He became famous for writings on entomology, a Fellow of the Royal Society, the first editor of the Hull newspaper the Rockingham, and involved with the Hull firm of Blundell Spence. Died 6.1.1860  see photo

On 1st October 1857, Thomas Bentley Locke, retired banker, JP of Hessle Mount committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a pistol, apparently believing he might be implicated in the failure of the Harrison Watson & Locke bank, from which he had retired over 20 years before.

William_Spence_

September 14th

On 14th September 1484, Anne de la Pole, great granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer, was betrothed aged 8 to the Duke of Rothesay, future King James IV of Scotland, as part of peace negotiations between the 2 countries. Her brother John, 1stEarl of Lincoln, was then Heir Presumptive to the English throne. Anne never became Queen, however, as on the death of her uncle Richard III, she was sent to a convent and became a nun at the Abbey of Syon.

On 14th September 1581, the Hull Mayor and aldermen agreed to pay 12d per week towards the keep in God’s House (i.e. the Charterhouse) of keelman Christofer Harrison, on account of his being blind and aged.

On 14th September 1643, Sir Thomas Fairfax, Hull governor, opened the sluice gates to flood all areas from Derringham Dyke to Dunswell, during the 2nd siege of Hull, to keep the royalist guns away from the town.

On 14th September 1828, Thomas Thompson MP died aged 72. A Methodist and member of the Clapham Sect, he provided land to poor families to keep them out of the workhouse. Wrote History of Church & Priory of Swine. Father of Thomas Perronet Thompson. (b 5.4.1754  Swine)

On 14th September 1853, Hugh Edward Strickland went to examine railway cuttings near Retford, and stepped out of the way of a goods train and was killed by a train coming from the opposite direction. Inventor of the power loom, ornithologist and geologist, Fellow of the Royal Society. (b2.3.1811 Reighton)

On 14th September 1861, John Kingston, chimney sweeper and soot dealer of 16 Worship St, Hull, gave his annual bill to Hull Charterhouse for £5 for sweeping chimneys, with a note that his prices would rise in the following year due to a new law forbidding sending children up chimneys to clean them.

 

childsweep2

July 14th

On 14th July 1746, William Pulteney, MP for Hedon, Baron Hedon and the Earl of Bath, stepped down when after “48 hours, three quarters, seven minutes, and eleven seconds” he failed to form a government, and is now reckoned to be England’s shortest-serving Prime Minister. photo shows his portrait in Hedon Town Hall.

On 14th July 1873, Hull hosted the Royal Agricultural Show at Newington, on the site of the former race course; the event has been held at Stoneleigh since 1963.

On 14th July 1943, Ernest Wilson of Hutt Street, Air Raid Warden, and Charles Henry Burgess rescued Mr Cherry from his home in Leonard Street, Hull, during an air raid. Wilson was later awarded the British Empire Medal.

On 14th July 2007, (Florence) Eva Crackles, MA, MBE,  died aged 89. Botanist and teacher; Honorary Doctor of Science, Univ of Hull 1991; Fellow of the Linnean Socy; and Honorary Life member Botanical Societyy of Britain & Ireland. Some of her work can be seen on the external wall of the Wilberforce Health Centre, and she is commemorated by a cream plaque. (born 23.1.1918)

Wm Pulteney, Hedon MP

June 5th

On 5th June 1618, ‘Blind Richie’ (Richard Graham of Millhill) had walked from the Scottish borders to seek help from Francis Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, at Londesborough, and was given a pension of 10s a year. It is not known what his relationship was to the Earl, who had lands on the Scottish border.

On 5th June 1778, Beilby Thompson of Escrick created a deer park, and demolished most of the village houses, rebuilding them out of sight of the Hall, and recycling the bricks; he paid 5s to Mr Scott the millwright for demolishing the horse mill.

On 5th June 1854, Dr Playfair, from the Dept of Science, reported on the teaching at Hull Trinity House School that no geometry or algebra was taught; geography was badly taught; no empirical data given on laws regulating winds, currents and weather.

On 5th June 1915, German Lieut-Capt Boemack made the first Zeppelin air raid on Yorkshire, dropping bombs on Driffield and Hedon before aborting the mission. There were no casualties, although house windows were broken in Beckside, Driffield, and crops were damaged. Crowds of people flocked to Driffield the following day to view the damage.

 

beilby thompson